MTB Fog Lights...

bartimaeus

So, what's the best lighting set-up for night riding in fog, then? Is there anything you can do to light up the trail and not the fog?

I was out on Thusday night and it wasn't much fun at all. In places the viz was no better than 5m. I tried to reduce the back-scatter by switching my lid light to low power, and I tried aiming my bar lights low as well as running them on different power settings, but the improvement was marginal.

Having such poor visibility on the climbs was a bit spooky, but it really spoiled the descents as you couldn't see the entrances and exits for any of the corners... so I was slowed to a crawl.

Anyone have any tips? Otherwise I might not bother next time there is patch fog.

cat_with_no_tail

Ahhhh, use the force you must.

Other than that, I've found there is not much else you can do. Lights on low setting so they're not reflecting back at you. You may possibly get better results if you use a few lights (if you have access to them) all on low power, similar to fog lights on a car. That's just a guess though.

Dan_xz

Turn off you helmet light completely - all it will do is reflect off the fog in front of you face.

It might be worth sticking something on top of your bar lights to cut out light shining upwards too, like a bit of plastic bottle overhanging the edge.

Anonymous

Nothing will work properly, short of an IR night vision helmet. If you really want the best option, then mount your light as low down as you possible can. Attatch it to the fork leg, or the BB shell.

bartimaeus

I'll have a look at mounting something low down... though anything on the fork lowers is going to bounce horribly. I have a P7, an XRE and 2 x XPGs to play with, so it's a question of sorting out some decent mounting points.

I'll just have to MTFU as far as the Hammer Horror atmosphere is concerned :shock:

Anonymous

To be honest, I wouldn't bother. The speeds on a pushbike aren't so high as to cause many problems. Just make sure that if you do have to use a road at any point, that you can be seen.

Anonymous

You need little fog lights down at the side of the wheels to light the side of the trail... that will obviously help...

:roll:

oh and don't forget a blinding rear red light to piss everyone off, and forget to turn it off.

cooldad

deadkenny wrote:

oh and don't forget a blinding rear red light to p1ss everyone off, and forget to turn it off.

FTFY
I only leave mine on so people know I'm an awesome BMW driver. It's one of the rules.

cavegiant

Simple, you just need to get a frequency of light that penetrates fog. High UV works fine.
The just strap a spider to your head, and train it to tell you what it sees.

Anonymous

cavegiant wrote:

Simple, you just need to get a frequency of light that penetrates fog. High UV works fine.
The just strap a spider to your head, and train it to tell you what it sees.

Damn it, you owe me a new keyboard, this one is now full of tea

Anonymous

Are bats any good in fog? If you can't find a spider, a bat may be good with their echo location.

Anonymous

deadkenny wrote:

Are bats any good in fog? If you can't find a spider, a bat may be good with their echo location.

Well, if it helps, I'm a sound engineer, with clicky ankles, and I'm still stuffed in fog. A bat navigates in pretty much the same way, so obviously bats are knackered in fog also.